


Uninvited Guest

by Maiika



Series: Old West AU [10]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, F/M, Raditz joining the family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15510180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiika/pseuds/Maiika
Summary: With all the excitement dying down in West City, one new resident isn't quite settled at all.  He has things to hash out with his family before he can get comfortable in West City.Since his little brother isn't moving to make amends, Raditz steps up and invites himself to family dinner.





	Uninvited Guest

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr prompt: "quiet...they can hear us"

It was about time Raditz paid his little brother a visit.

 

He hadn’t been invited, but given Kakarot's last words to him, he knew not to expect an invitation anytime soon, either.  It was up to Raditz to extend the first olive branch, and being the eldest, he accepted this as his responsibility. He could never expect Kakarot to be mature, but then again, he didn’t take his brother’s last words toward him too seriously either.  Kakarot would make amends if Raditz performed his sincerest act of apology. Raditz had gotten away with worse than this, many times in the past. 

 

Then again, he thought, rubbing his chin as he stood on his brother’s stoop, waiting for an answer to his knock at the door, Kakarot never had a  _ family _ for Raditz to upset when he forgave his brother before.  In regards to Raditz’s threat to Kakarot’s wife and child, Kakarot’s forgiveness might not be so easily forthcoming.  When the front door clicked open, Raditz felt his throat tighten. He loosened the bolla around his neck just as the door swung open, revealing the face of judgment.

 

“Raditz.”

 

“Howdy, Kakarot,” Raditz said, putting on a smile as he wedged his boot into the fast-closing door.  “Thought it was high time I see my little brother.”

 

“You’ve  _ been _ here for two weeks.”

 

“And  _ yet _ you never came to see me at the hotel,” Raditz said with a scowl.

 

“Should I have?”

 

Raditz glared, irritated by his abrasive reception.  This was the point where, back when his parents were alive, his mother would’ve stepped in with her  _ ‘boys, boys’ _ , and his father would’ve started yelling at them to shut up.  Now it was just him and Kakarot, no mediators. Things could get ugly.

 

“You should’ve been  _ over the moon _ ,” Raditz snarled, “that your big brother survived - after you left him for dead.”

 

Kakarot’s face fell.  “Left you for-“

 

“That’s right,” Raditz snapped.  “Your new Namekian friend didn’t tell you about  _ that _ , did he?”

 

“Goku!  Who is it?”

 

Kakarot’s eyes widened before he threw a surreptitious glance over his shoulder and back to Raditz.  “It’s really not a good time, Raditz,” he hissed, before raising his voice and calling into the house, “I-I’m coming, Chi-Chi!”

 

Raditz raised a brow.  “Supper time?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Perfect.”  

 

As Raditz pushed his way past the threshold, Kakarot put a hand on Raditz’s chest, barring him from entering.  “What do you think you’re doing?”

 

“Aren’t you going to invite me in to meet your family?”

 

“You’ve already  _ met _ them,” Kakarot said through clenched teeth.

 

Raditz leaned in, whispering to his brother as he caught glimpses of movement from the depths of the house.  “Maybe it’s time for me to meet them under better circumstances.” When Kakarot’s hand remained on Raditz’s chest, his glare unwavering, Raditz sighed.  “Look. This town isn’t big enough for the two of us, remaining at odds like this. I know you’re mad at me.”

 

Kakarot scoffed through his teeth.

 

“But you’ve gotta give a little, if you want this town you love so much to remain a happy place for you and your family.  Because I’m not going anywhere.”

 

Raditz batted Kakarot’s hand off of him, letting himself into the house.  It was no surprise that Kakarot bounded after him, restraining Raditz by the arm before he could make it into the kitchen to join the rest of the family.  Raditz could see Kakarot’s kid seated in a dining chair, babbling to the fat old man while Kakarot’s little wife put food on the table. 

 

Kakarot squeezed Raditz’s forearm.  “ _ Wait! _  Wait,” he said more slowly as Raditz side-eyed him.  “Chi-Chi isn’t going to like this.”

 

Raditz cocked a grin.  “She doesn’t have to  _ like _ me.  We’re family now, remember?  She only has to tolerate me.”

 

When he pulled away and moved through the open archway leading to the crowded little kitchen, Raditz heard his brother whimper.  He almost suspected the whimper wasn’t on account of Raditz, but someone else. His eyes darted around the well-lit, food-perfumed room in search of the danger which could’ve worried his brother.  The room was decorated in floral wallpaper, the table lit by candlelight. The old man sitting beside the kid looked harmless. Raditz had seen him around town -he was hard to miss. He seemed anything but threatening, in spite of his massive size and strength.  The kid couldn’t be much trouble, though Raditz remembered he could  _ kick and scream _ like hell.  The woman looked harmless as well - until her eyes met Raditz’s.

 

The pot of food she’d been holding crashed to the ground, sending a cacophonous symphony through the small room while her glare darted to Kakarot and back to Raditz.  Her small hands flew to her hips, bracing into fists as she leaned forward and opened her mouth, letting out a bigger voice than Raditz imagined possible from that petite body.

 

“ _ Goku! _ _ What _ is that man doing in our house?  In  _ my _ kitchen?  Near  _ Gohan _ ?”

 

“Chi-Chi,” Kakarot whimpered.

 

“Out!” she cried, raising a rigid finger toward the door.  “I want him out!”

 

“But Chi-Chi, I didn-“

 

Raditz looked past the screaming wife, raising his chin to the small beady eyes staring curiously up at him.  “Howdy, Kid. ‘Member me?”

 

Both parties of the marital dispute blinked, turning dumbfounded eyes on Raditz.  When their eyes landed on their boy, his chubby face easing into a wary smile, they met each other’s gazes.  Raditz shrugged at the questioning look he received from the older, bearded male, who sat silent through it all, absorbing the chaos.  Raditz wondered if the old man even  _ knew _ who he was, or what Raditz had done to earn such a hostile reception here.

 

“You!” the wife screamed, redirecting her fury from her husband to Raditz.  “You don’t  _ get _ to talk to Gohan!”

 

“Fine by me,” Raditz said, taking the nearest seat and folding his hands over the dinner table.  “Kids aren’t much for conversation anyway.”

 

“Raditz!” Kakarot cried, sliding into the seat beside him and casting wary glances to his wife’s reddening face.  “Raditz is here because he has somethin’ to say,” Kakarot punctuated his words with a blast of pain to Raditz’s shin. “ _ Don’cha _ , Raditz?”

 

Raditz bit his tongue, sending his brother a glare.  The fucker. He’d get him for that later. “Yeah,” Raditz coughed.  “Yeah, I wanted to apologize. See, we got off on the wrong foot.”

 

“On the wrong  _ foot _ ?” Chi-Chi exclaimed.  “I’m about to kick you outta here with  _ both _ my feet.  You’ve got some nerve-“

 

“I know I do,” Raditz said, raising a solemn hand, “and if you kicked my ass, I’d deserve it.  I’m sincerely sorry...for what I did to you... _ and _ your little boy.  My nephew.”

 

Chi-Chi’s teeth clenched, the tirade she was about to spew thwarted by Raditz’s effective words.  He stifled a smile. This wasn’t the time to gloat. After registering the smells in this kitchen, he wanted to be able to actually make it through dinner here.  He could already tell this food was worlds away from the cooking at the Capsule Hotel. Kakarot wouldn’t let Raditz stay for supper if he didn’t play nice with the wife and kid.  Raditz looked up into the dark, suspicious eyes of his sister-in-law, offering her the sweetest smile he could muster.

 

Chi-Chi wrung her hands together, looking at Kakarot.  “He really is Gohan’s uncle,  _ isn’t _ he?”

 

Shooting Raditz a sideways glare, Kakarot sighed.  “He is.”

 

Chi-Chi worried her plump bottom lip, her hands continuing to wring in front of her as she went through some sort of thought process.  This was it, Raditz realized. His judgment never lied with Kakarot - it lied with her. He could see now that Kakarot would go along with whatever  _ she _ decided.

 

“Well, Chi-Chi,” the old man said, his voice booming as it cut through the tense silence, “we’ve made enough food here for one more, didn’t we?”

 

“Dad,” Chi-Chi said through clenched teeth, “do you realize who this man is?”

 

The old man smiled, his brown eyes meeting Raditz’s.  “He’s Goku’s brother! Raditz, I’m Ox King, nice to meet you formerly.”

 

“A pleasure,” Raditz drawled.  “Oh, uh, no hard feelings...about the bank robbery.”

 

The old man’s jaw fell before Chi-Chi’s groan drew Raditz’s eyes back to her.  She wasn’t wavering. Raditz frowned, knowing his stay here was likely to come to a quick end.  Chi-Chi’s eyes bulged before drawing down to the skirts of her lavender gown partly hidden beneath her stained apron.

 

The boy tugged his mother’s skirt again and looked up at her.  “Mommy, he can stay. It won’t bother me. He’s not bad anymore.”

 

Raditz sneered.  He was ready to rebuke that statement.  ‘Not bad anymore’ implied he ever  _ was _ bad.  He was only doing what he had to do to survive.  His nephew’s statement also implied he’d changed in some way.  Raditz knew he might’ve been making some concessions with settling into city life, but he wasn’t  _ changing _ for anyone.

 

Unexpectedly, the kid turned innocent eyes on Raditz.  “You’re  _ not _ bad anymore...are you?”

 

“Right,” Raditz said through clenched teeth, pulling his tightening fists into his lap, “I’m not...bad.”

 

“Gohan,” Chi-Chi said deflatedly, “honey…”

 

“That’s my boy, Gohan,” Kakarot cut in, smiling proudly across the table at his son.  “See, Chi-Chi? He’s hardly afraid of anything now.”

 

“Yeah,” Chi-Chi scoffed, folding her arms over the swell of her chest and glaring at Raditz again.  “That’s what happens when you’re scared half to death as a five year old and forced to grow up faster than nature intended.”

 

The old man laughed.  “C’mon, Chi-Chi. You’ve gotta admit, Goku has a point.”  He pinched the boy’s round cheek, causing the boy to giggle.  “Gohan’s really grown up over the past months. Have a seat, Chi-Chi, and I’ll get Mr. Raditz a plate.”

 

Raditz scoffed as the old man turned to the china cabinet behind him.  “Just...Raditz. None of that ‘Mister’ shit.”

 

“Raditz,” Chi-Chi hissed.

 

“Just like that,” Raditz said, shooting his sister-in-law a grin.

 

Kakarot’s wife sighed, melting into the chair beside her son with a deep grimace marring her pretty face.  Apparently, she could be overpowered when outnumbered. Raditz had to give credit where credit was due, though.  She was a powerful force. She’d nearly managed to keep him away from the house. Raditz cast a sideways glance at his brother sitting silently beside him. Raditz knew Chi-Chi wasn’t the only one unhappy about his presence at the table.

 

Clapping his hands together, Raditz skimmed his eyes over the bowls and platters in the center of the table. The food all looked so good.  It all  _ smelled _ delectable.  He took an appreciative whiff, noting his brother nearly drooling beside him when his eyes followed.  Same old Kakarot. Some things never changed.

 

“Gohan,” Chi-Chi said, “can you say grace for us?”

 

Gohan nodded, folding his tiny hands and bowing his head.  As the others mimicked his posture and the boy began praying, Raditz felt a twinge of discomfort.  Seeing his brother give way to prayer before dinner was alarming. They’d never, even before Frieza came along, practiced such a thing in their family.  It was foreign to Raditz. Every surviving Saiyan knew there couldn’t be a God. No God would’ve allowed the atrocity that had befallen their hometown to ever happen.

But Kakarot seemed sincerely grateful as his son prayed, and Raditz couldn’t help noticing with some shock when Gohan added in a reference to his Uncle Raditz along with his expressions of blessings.

 

“So,” Kakarot said as he scooped heaping spoonfuls of potatoes onto his plate, “what have you been doing for the past two weeks?  Have you seen Vegeta?”

 

“Once,” Raditz said with a scowl, remembering his last encounter with the jerk, “but I think he got pissed at me for making a move on his woman.”

 

Chi-Chi blinked, setting down a bowl of green vegetables to look across the table at Raditz.  “Bulma? She’s really with…? I mean, I thought that was a...was a…” she glanced at Gohan, grimacing, “well, you know.”

 

Raditz shrugged.  “I thought so, too.  Kakarot, pass the potatoes.”

 

“It’s strange,” Kakarot said as he complied, “to think  _ Vegeta  _ would be willing to take a woman seriously.”

 

Raditz snorted a laugh as he accepted the platter.  “Right? But not nearly as weird as finding  _ you _ married, with a  _ kid _ .  For fuck’s sake, Kakarot, you didn’t waste any time, did you?”

 

Chi-Chi hissed at Raditz, though he didn’t know what he’d done wrong, even when he felt another jolt of pain to his shin. The guilty party wasn’t Kakarot this time, so Raditz masked his features rather than glaring at the sister-in-law he still needed to handle delicately.  Since her eyes kept darting to the kid, Raditz figured her reprimand had something to do with the boy.

 

The kid’s gaze met Raditz’s.  It felt uncannily speculative, the look in that boy’s juvenile eyes.  He’d done something similar back when Raditz nabbed the kid from his mother, too.  Strangely enough, that kid kind of scared him.

 

“Uncle Raditz,” the kid said, making Raditz feel even more uncomfortable as every pair of eyes at the table turned on him, “why do you call my daddy ‘Kakarot’?”

 

Raditz pushed the delicious mound of potato filling his mouth into his cheek.  “Dat’s hish name.”

 

“Excuse me,” the kid said with a tilt of his head, “but everyone else calls him ‘Goku’.”

 

“The people who  _ really _ know your father call him by his real name,” Raditz said, giving his sister-in-law a teasing wink.

 

“But, Daddy,” the boy said, looking confused, “I thought Goku  _ was _ your real name.”

 

“It is, Gohan,” Kakarot said with an easy smile after gulping down a mouthful of food.

 

The boy turned back to Raditz.  “Then-“

 

Raditz had to put an end to this pointless conversation.  He pointed his fork at the big man seated beside the kid. “What do you call  _ him _ ?”

 

“Grandpa.”

 

“And if he went away for a while, came back, and everyone called him Wilfred, would  _ you _ call him Wilfred?”

 

“No.”

 

“He’d still be Grandpa, right?”

 

“Mm-hmm,” Gohan said, smiling at the beaming older man.

 

“Kakarot will  _ always _ be Kakarot,” Raditz said, throwing his fork down on his plate.  He beckoned for the meat platter. “Kakarot’s a real son of a bitch, too, if y’all don’t already know it.  Turkey.”

 

“It’s  _ chicken _ ,” Chi-Chi said tersely as the old man passed the platter.

 

“Whatever,” Raditz drawled as he drew heaping scoops of meat onto his plate.

 

“Goku,” Chi-Chi said through clenched teeth, nodding past Raditz, “can I speak to you for a minute, Dear?”

 

She wasted no time sweeping away from the table, her dress rustling with her hasty movements as she rushed to Kakarot’s side.  When Kakarot followed her from the room, Raditz took his first bite of chicken. Whatever he had to do, he was going to find a way to his sister-in-law’s good side.  Her cooking was to die for. 

 

As he moaned in delight at the flavors, Raditz heard the hushed conversation from the other room.  When he glanced over his shoulder, he could see their figures moving. They were only partly obscured by the arch separating the living room from the kitchen.  If he listened carefully, he could hear what they were saying. He was sure it was about him. He wasn’t sure if he cared what they had to say.

 

As Raditz gnawed on the meat coating his tongue with exquisite juices, his sister-in-law’s words became clear to him regardless of his attempts to ignore them.

 

“...want to know  _ why _ he would say that about you, is all,” she said, “I don’t like...I don’t like thinkin’ there are people in this town who know more about the real you than I do.”

 

“Chi-Chi,” Kakarot said, “you know the real me.  _ This _ is the real me.”

 

She sniffled.  “But...I don’t know anything about  _ Kakarot _ .”

 

“I could tell her all about him,” Raditz murmured into his plate, amused.  “Not too sure you’d all like him anymore, though.”

 

“And your  _ brother _ ,” Chi-Chi continued, a note of contempt in her voice, “he’s bad news.  I don’t like him bein’ around Gohan! What if he tries somethin’ again an-“

 

“If you want him out of here-“ Kakarot began seriously.

 

“Raditz!” the fat man said loudly from across the table full of food, “I’m sure you do have a lot of stories about our Goku as a boy, hm?  Care to share any with us, I’d love to hear them! Right, Gohan?”

 

The boy nodded fervently.  “Yeah!”

 

“-I’ll tell him right now to-“ Kakarot continued.

 

“Quiet,” Chi-Chi interrupted, creating a lull in their conversation.  “They can hear us.”

 

Kakarot made a strangled sound of alarm before their conversation devolved into whispers.  Raditz grimaced, surmising that his sister-in-law heard the loud exclamation from her father, his words too near to their topic of conversation to be coincidental.  Ah well. Raditz didn’t care what those two decided over there. If Kakarot asked him to leave now, Raditz would make a scene, and it wouldn’t be pretty. He wasn’t leaving this table without a fight.  Aside from the delicious plate of food from which he’d be loath to remove himself, Raditz knew Kakarot and his family were all he had left now. Nappa and Vegeta had been as close as he got to having friends over the past years, and now Nappa was gone and Raditz knew Vegeta never  _ really _ gave a shit about him.  Kakarot, pathetically, was all he really had.

 

A creak on the floorboard behind him informed Raditz of the couple’s return to the table.  His brother’s movement into the seat beside Raditz caught the corner of his eye before he saw his sister-in-law, calm and quiet, returning to her seat at the other side of the table.  He waited, knowing he was probably about to hear it from them. He was ready to fight.

 

Chi-Chi cleared her throat.  “Raditz, can you please pass the chicken?”

 

Raditz’s brows rose to touch his widow’s peak.  “What?”

 

She smiled at him, but her eyes narrowed at the same time.  “See how it’s done? If you ever want to eat at my table again, you need to practice your table manners.”

 

“Manners?” Raditz balked, turning to his brother.  “Kakarot?”

 

Kakarot shrugged, hiding a smile.  “You heard her. You could always  _ not _ eat Chi-Chi’s cooking ever again.  That’s your choice.”

 

Chi-Chi extended her hands.  “Chicken, please?”

 

Raditz’s jaw fell, but he collected himself, passing the platter.

 

“Thank you,” Chi-Chi said as she received it and glanced at Gohan.  “I can’t have another delinquent family member around here setting a bad example for Gohan.  Lord knows I’ve tried with Goku, but he can’t yet seem to fully grasp good use of table etiquette.”

 

“Um, so,” Raditz drawled, feeling dumbfounded, “you’re saying I’m invited to come for supper again?”

 

“Under two conditions,” Chi-Chi said as she cut her meat, not looking up from her plate.  “First, you tell me anything I want to know about my Goku’s past.”

 

As Chi-Chi looked up from her plate to smile at Kakarot, Raditz quirked a brow.  “And second?”

 

Chi-Chi’s brows narrowed, her eyes darkening as she turned on Raditz and pointed her dinner knife at him.  “You don’t  _ ever _ lay a hand on my family again.  If you try anything, I promise I’ll rip you apart myself.”

 

Raditz coughed, surprised by his sister-in-law’s sudden turn of hostility.  Definitely like mom, he decided as he exchanged a glance with his brother. He could see why Kakarot married the woman.  She had guts. As Raditz turned to her, nodding, he decided she wasn’t afraid to follow through with her threats. He didn’t know if she really was capable of harming him, but he imagined, judging by Kakarot’s fearfulness around her, she had her own ways of handling powerful men.

 

Kakarot raised his brows at Raditz, nodding as if to confirm Raditz’s thoughts.  Raditz turned to his food. Food was safe. He gave Chi-Chi a curt nod, deciding as he took another massive bite of chicken, that he, rather than Kakarot’s family, might’ve been the one endangering himself by furthering this relationship.

 

When he looked up from his food again, Chi-Chi was smiling across the table at Kakarot, the boy was smiling and eating, the woman’s father humming in delight as he wiped a napkin over his beard.  This was a family. A real family. Raditz had to admit, Kakarot might’ve found something special here in West City.

 

When he looked at his brother, a timid smile eased across his face when Kakarot’s sparkling eyes met his.


End file.
